Sri Lanka pacer Matheesha Pathirana finally joined the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) camp on Sunday ahead of their IPL 2026 match against Rajasthan Royals (RR) on the same day.
However, Matheesha Pathirana is unlikely to feature in Sunday's evening match against RR as the medical team will reportedly assess his match fitness over a couple of training sessions.
KKR welcomes Matheesha Pathirana
Pathirana has not played competitive cricket since sustaining a calf strain during Sri Lanka's T20 World Cup match against Australia in February. "Just a reminder, Pathi ghar aa chuke hain," KKR posted on "X", along with a photo of Pathirana posing with KKR's three IPL trophies.
The 23-year-old's arrival is a big boost for KKR, wo are languishing at the bottom of the 10-team IPL 2026 standings with just one point from six games. KKR have lost five matches, whereas their match against Punjab Kings (PBKS) was washed out due to rain in Kolkata.
KKR had already sustained a big blow ahead of IPL 2026. Pacers Harshit Rana and Akash Deep were ruled out of the tournament due to injuries, whereas Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman was released due to political reasons. Australia pacer Cameron Green's bowling has been limited due to Cricket Australia regularly monitoring his workload.
Mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy has also been inconsistent, taking just two wickets from four matches. Much will be expected from Matheesha Pathirana, who was acquired by KKR for ₹18 crore at the IPL 2026 mini-auction.
The Kandy-born cricketer has played every season of the IPL since making his debut in 2022. He has played for only Chennai Super Kings so far. From 32 IPL matches, he has taken 47 wickets at an average of 21.61 and an economy rate of 8.68.
As far as his T20I career is concerned, the right-am pacer has played 28 matches and has taken 40 wickets at an economy rate of 8.42.
After Sunday's match against Rajasthan Royals, Kolkata Knight Riders will get a one week break, thus giving Pathirana enough time to get match fit. KKR's next match after the RR game is against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in Lucknow on 26 April.
